[aprssig] antenna help + voice alert.

[joe at dellabarba.com]

On my boat I have 4 radios that operate between 144-165 MHz. There is the marine VHF, APRS radio, FT-2800M 2 meter, and AIS receiver. I am going nuts trying to get antennas set up correctly for all of them. Right now I have one on the masthead, about 60 feet up, one on the rail about 6 feet up, and one on an extension about 14 feet up. Some experiments show the range increase even by just going from 6 to 14 feet is huge. Question is, if I put the 3rd antenna up on an extension it will be only inches or maybe a few feet from the other one. Will this cause any ill efects? I have also thought of making an AIS antenna by simply stripping back the shield of the coax and sealing the wire. This is a receive only antenna I can put on the extension for one of the other ones. One last thing - I have my 2 meter set to 144.39 MHz on CTSS of 100. I should be able to hear anyone using voice alert, right? I can't SEND with that tone on the APRS radio unless I want to hear myself AFAIK.

73
Joe N3HGB